Friday, November 16, 2007

As we mentioned on Monday, Mexican rock quartet Café Tacuba will start the U.S. part of its tour with a concert tonight in Charlotte.The tour will last for exactly one month and will include stops in New York, Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Miami.Below is the music video for the complete version of “Volver a Comenzar”, which is one of the songs on their latest album entitled “Sino”.

In a press conference yesterday, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim rejected allegations that the government wants to build nuclear weapons.Brazil’s plans “aren't for a nuclear bomb, that's just nonsense,” said Jobim which contradicted a Brazilian General who said that nuclear weapons would be necessary.

“Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007, will go down in history ... as the day of truth ... an ideological Waterloo,” Castro said…

“There has never been a dialogue like that between heads of state and government, almost all of whom represented countries plundered for centuries by colonialism and imperialism,” Castro said, adding, “nothing else could have been more enlightening.”

Meanwhile, relations between Spain and Venezuela have been strained in the days since the controversial exchange.On Wednesday, Chavez said that he was “conducting a detailed review” of diplomatic and business ties between both countries. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos replied yesterday that Spain “will defend its interests” while trying to bring “a swift resolution” to the row.

Some members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee expressed their doubts over a major U.S. counternarcotics strategy for Mexico dubbed “Plan Mexico.” During the session on Wednesday, assistant secretary of state Thomas Shannon praised Mexico’s government for their anti-crime efforts and emphasized how the aid would serve as “a new paradigm for security cooperation.” However, Democrat and Republican legislators on the committee did not entirely agree with "Plan Mexico":

"We first learned of the initiative from the media. For an administration which is not particularly noted for its bipartisanship, this cavalier disregard of congressional concern is deeply disturbing," said committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Burlingame)…

Twelve years ago, Lantos said, the U.S. gave 73 helicopters to Mexico. "They were used and did not work well, and we ended up with the Mexicans giving them back to us," he said.

Republicans focused on concerns about corruption.

"I read that two girls crossed the border for a concert and were kidnapped by the police and taken to the traffickers as a gift -- by the police," said Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.). "It's very worrisome for me that we're going to give them money and expect them to spend it correctly."

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) displayed a photograph that he said showed traffickers dressed in Mexican military garb crossing the Rio Grande with AK-47s and "backpacks full of cocaine."

The Merida Initiative (a.k.a. the official name for “Plan Mexico”) cannot take effect unless it’s approved by Congress. If approved, “Plan Mexico” is expected to take three years and cost $1.4 billion.

The Iranian government banned publication of Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ latest novel despite having originally approved it.The first edition of “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” sold out in Iran last month, yet a backlash by Islamist conservatives led to the government’s about-face.

In their determination to get Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s highly acclaimed work into the bookshops, local publishers hit on an audacious ruse - they sanitized its title.

As a result, the normally vigilant gaze of culture and Islamic guidance ministry officials was averted when a novel by the Nobel prize-winning author innocuously titled Memories of My Melancholy Sweethearts was submitted and accordingly authorized for publication.

An operating manual for the Guantanamo prison camp was leaked onto the Internet via Wikileaks.org.Dated March 2003, the 238-page text entitled “Standard Operating Procedures for CampDelta” provided details of how to handle prisoners:

The document prohibits abuse or corporal punishment but says new detainees should be held in near isolation for their first two weeks.

One section of the manual says some detainees should not have access to visitors from the International Committee of the Red Cross, something the US military has denied.

Precise instructions are given on how to search a prisoner's cell, and how to pepper spray an unruly detainee.

Four pages are taken up to explain how new prisoners should be taken off the plane they arrive on and transported to the main prison camp.

A U.S. military spokesman admitted that the manual was “authentic” though he added that it was also “out-of-date.” In addition, Army Lt. Col. Ed Bush said that the manual was unclassified yet “not intended for mass distribution.”

As a Reuters article points out accusations of abuse at the prison camp have been brought up by prisoners, human rights groups and even former military members who worked there.

Bolivia’s busiest airport was shutdown on Wednesday after employees went on a one day strike. All flights at ViruViruInternationalAirport were cancelled as workers demanded two months back pay from the government.The government has frozen the wages while investigating alleged corruption at the airport.

The airport located in Santa Cruz was the site of incidents last month when thousands of locals overran the facility after the withdrawal of government troops. Santa Cruz has been the epicenter of disagreements between the federal government and local political factions.

A class action lawsuit was filed in a U.S. federal court against banana firm Chiquita Brands based on the company’s role in the Colombian civil conflict.The plaintiffs represent 393 people who seek nearly $8 billionin damages against Chiquita who has been accused of paying off Colombia’s largest paramilitary group.

"While Chiquita paid a fine to the United States government of $25 million, none of that money went to any of the victims," said attorney Jonathan Reiter.

"Chiquita has admitted to making payments to the AUC and now it should be held accountable by the families of people who were murdered by this organization.

The “fine” referred to by Reiter was the plea deal arranged by Chiquita and federal prosecutors in September; it absolved ten Chiquita executives while fining the company $25 million for hiring paramilitaries and guerillas to serve as “security’ in Colombia.

Sources- New York Times, AFP, Reuters, New York Daily News, The Latin Americanist, International Herald Tribune,

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Around lunchtime today, a fairly strong earthquake hit Northern Chile. According to the New York Times, the quake measured 7.7 on the Richter scale. The center of the quake was located in the Atacama desert and caused understandable panic, power outages, damage to airport tarmacs and road closures., according to news reports. No deaths were reported, but there were injuries.

The tremor was considered “an earthquake of major intensity,” said Carmen Fernandez, director of the Office of National Emergency, according to a newspaper in Santiago, “Diario Financiero.”

Yesterday at 11:30am at St. Vincents Hospital in Manhattan, Luis Miranda, President of New York's "Casa De Las Americas" since 1987 passed. The Case de las Americas in NYC was founded in 1957, under the name Casa Cuba. It was a NYC base of support for the Cuban Revolution. From a 2003 Granma article:

Born in Havana in 1928 and resident in the UnitedStates since 1948, Miranda affirms that the Cuban emigrant community, not by chance but with a thorough understanding, has defended the Revolution because it knows the Cuba of yesteryear where hunger, misery and prostitution were rife. "After the visit by Fidel and Juan Manuel, we began our struggle for the Revolution with the sale of bonds to fundraise and send money to Cuba," explains Miranda.

Casa has been at its current location, 14th St. and Sixth Avenue, for the last 34 years, after being forced to move a few times because of opposition to its presence and what it stands for. Miranda and Casa were often targeted by the U.S. Government and the anti-Castro Cuban exile community.

In 1960, an explosive device was planted in the Casathat completely demolished the building. Anotherexploded in the Casa de las Américas during the 26thof July celebrations in 1978, breaking windows inthe entire block and causing major damage to thebuilding.In 1983, a device placed inside the Musical Academyon 14th St. was deactivated. Later came another thatcould have blown up the entire block. However, justa few hours before, the police caught two terroristssome who confessed to the crime and a furtherexplosion was prevented.

In 1960 when Fidel came to New York, a groupattacked us with sticks and chains on 125th St. Theystruck me in the face and I almost lost an eye. They have attacked us so many times with every possibletype of weapon that both my hands are scarred fromthose encounters."In 1978, I was shot in the hip. I was coming out ofa meeting in the Casa and someone fired from a nearby building. We couldn't go to the authorities because of all the lengthy explanations this wouldinvolve and so the wound became infected."In 1982, whilst I was leaving the Cuban diplomaticmission – when it was located on 67th St. and ParkAvenue – there was a couple on the street and thewoman came running towards me, crying out to me to help her, but then she grabbed my arms. The man thenstabbed me with a knife. I managed to ward off theblow but I was still wounded close to my heart. They fled and with a lot of effort, I managed to get myself to the house of a friend of mine, a doctor,who put three internal and three external stitcheson the left nipple."

On Friday there will be a wake for Miranda then Miranda will be sent home, to his beloved Cuba, to be buried, as he wished.

The Latin Business Chronicle upends the idea that the U.S. government is subsidizing Latin America through the region's workers. Refuting the sentiment that immigrants steal U.S. jobs and then send money back to their home country, the article reports that wealthy Latin Americans invest $100 billion annually, keeping the U.S. economy rolling.

An interesting Time article about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez being told to "shut up" by Spain's King Juan Carlos. The story analyzes the president's reaction post-insult: was he hurt by the remark, or did he take it in stride?

Monday, November 12, 2007

It has been months since the last time we wrote our post exclusively on music.Let’s take a quick a look at some recent music news that has caught our attention:

* Dominican singer/songwriter Juan Luis Guerrawas the big winner in last week’s Latin Grammy Awards after winning an award for each of his five nominations. Other award winners included Calle 13 and Pepe Aguilar, along with personal favorites Aterciopelados and Manu Chao.

Fellow contributor Maegan la Mala was at the event last Thursday in Las Vegas and she gave her two cents from the press room in this blog post.

* Mexican rockeros Café Tacuba are set to begin a U.S. tour starting this Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina.In this brief interview, vocalist Emmanuel Del Real admits that their latest album is “more rock-oriented” than previous efforts and expressed pride at the group’s fans.

* An article from Billboard notes the change in music tastes in Spain as a result of the boom in immigration from Latin America to that country.For instance, music sales for Latin music have soared since Spain's foreign-born population uses cellular phones and roughly four out of five digital sales are done via cell phones.

* Another piece from Billboard notes that crossover Spanish-language hits in the U.S. have been far and few between.Moreover, the only songs that do crossover and become hits in the mainstream music scene are those that are “tied to an uptempo, easy-to-dance-to track” according to Leila Cobo.

* Famed Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil is going to quit from his post as culture minister next year.Local media reports said that his resignation will be due to a polyp on his vocal cords which may sadly put a halt to his illustrious music career.

"The illegals are humping this ... over the mountains and bringing it from Mexico into the United States. Once they get across the border in these cities, they can go less than 100 yards and blend into the community. You don't know where they are," Jones said.

Jones’ remarks came after he visited the U.S.-Mexico border last month “to search for solutions to growing immigration problems back in Ohio” according to one report.

Jones has not shied from controversy regarding immigration; in August, migration authorities detained over 160 employees of a chicken plant in ButlerCounty and last year he called on President George W. Bush to grant local police the authority to arrest illegal immigrants.Jones’ policies have helped increase tensions in an area that has seen significant growth in immigrants- both legal and illegal- over the past decade.

"If this is confirmed, we will no longer be a 'medium' country, pursuing self-sufficiency and exporting a little. It will transform the nation to another level, with exporting properties like Venezuela, Arab nations and others," said Dilma Rousseff, presidential chief of staff.

For a country that went deeply into debt buying foreign oil in the 1970s and '80s, "this has changed our reality," she said.

King Juan Carlos I of Spain told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to “shut up” during Saturday’s closing session of the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile. The king’s remarks came as Chavez tried to interrupt current Spanish P.M. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who insisted that Chavez show more diplomacy and respect for other leaders despite ideological differences.

Yesterday Chavez expressed his displeasure at the King’s outburst though he hoped that it would not hurt relations between Venezuela and Spain. Meanwhile, Spanish opposition head Mariano Rajoy blamed the spat on Rodriguez Zapatero’s foreign policy.

Other developments occurred during the three-day heads of state summit included: